Haftarah First Shabbat (Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7)

Haftarah Second Shabbat (I Kings 7:40 – 50)

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Shavuot Day 1

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Ezekiel 38:18 – 39:16

¹⁸On that day, when Gog sets foot on the soil of Israel—declares the Lord God—My raging anger shall flare up. ¹⁹For I have decreed in My indignation and in My blazing wrath: On that day, a terrible earthquake shall befall the land of Israel. ²⁰The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that move on the ground, and every human being on earth shall quake before Me. Mountains shall be overthrown, cliffs shall topple, and every wall shall crumble to the ground. ²¹I will then summon the sword against him throughout My moun- tains—declares the Lord God—and every man’s sword shall be turned against his brother. ²²I will punish him with pestilence and with bloodshed; and I will pour torrential rain, hailstones, and sulfurous fire upon him and his hordes and the many peoples with him. ²³Thus will I manifest My greatness and My holiness, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 39

¹And you, O mortal, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus said the Lord God: I am going to deal with you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! ²I will turn you around and drive you on, and I will take you from the far north and lead you toward the mountains of Israel. ³I will strike your bow from your left hand and I will loosen the arrows from your right hand. ⁴You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your battalions and the peoples who are with you; and I will give you as food to carrion birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field, ⁵as you lie in the open field. For I have spoken—declares the Lord God.⁶And I will send a fire against Magog and against those who dwell secure in the coastlands. And they shall know that I am the Lord. ⁷I will make My holy name known among My people Israel, and never again will I let My holy name be profaned. And the nations shall know that I the Lord am holy in Israel. ⁸Ah! it has come, it has happened—declares the Lord God: this is that day that I decreed.

⁹Then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out and make fires and feed them with the weapons—shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, clubs and spears; they shall use them as fuel for seven years. ¹⁰They will not gather firewood in the fields or cut any in the forests, but will use the weapons as fuel for their fires. They will despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them—declares the Lord God.

¹¹On that day I will assign to Gog a burial site there in Israel—the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It shall block the path of travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It shall be called the Valley of Gog’s Multitude. ¹²The House of Israel shall spend seven months burying them, in order to cleanse the land; ¹³all the people of the land shall bury them. The day I manifest My glory shall bring renown to them—declares the Lord God. ¹⁴And they shall appoint men to serve permanently, to traverse the land and bury any invaders who remain above ground, in order to cleanse it. The search shall go on for a period of seven months. ¹⁵As those who traverse the country make their rounds, any one of them who sees a human bone shall erect a marker beside it, until the buriers have interred them in the Valley of Gog’s Multitude. ¹⁶There shall also be a city named Multitude. And thus the land shall be cleansed.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Morning: Jeremiah 8:13-9:23

Chapter 8

¹³I will make an end of them
—declares the Lord:
No grapes left on the vine,
No figs on the fig tree,
The leaves all withered;
Whatever I have given them is gone.

¹⁴Why are we sitting by?
Let us gather into the fortified cities
And meet our doom there.
For the Lord our God has doomed us,
He has made us drink a bitter draft,
Because we sinned against the Lord.

¹⁵We hoped for good fortune, but no happiness came;
For a time of relief—instead there is terror!

¹⁶The snorting of their horses was heard from Dan;
At the loud neighing of their steeds
The whole land quaked.
They came and devoured the land and what was in it,
The towns and those who dwelt in them.

¹⁷Lo, I will send serpents against you,
Adders that cannot be charmed,
And they shall bite you
—declares the Lord.

¹⁸When in grief I would seek comfort,
My heart is sick within me.

¹⁹“Is not the Lord in Zion?
Is not her King within her?
Why then did they anger Me with their images,
With alien futilities?”
Hark! The outcry of my poor people
From the land far and wide:

²⁰“Harvest is past,
Summer is gone,
But we have not been saved.”

²¹Because my people is shattered I am shattered;
I am dejected, seized by desolation.

²²Is there no balm in Gilead?
Can no physician be found?
Why has healing not yet
Come to my poor people?

²³Oh, that my head were water,
My eyes a fount of tears!
Then would I weep day and night
For the slain of my poor people.

Chapter 9

¹Oh, to be in the desert,
At an encampment for wayfarers!
Oh, to leave my people,
To go away from them—
For they are all adulterers,
A band of rogues.

²They bend their tongues like bows;
They are valorous in the land
For treachery, not for honesty;
They advance from evil to evil.
And they do not heed Me
—declares the Lord.

³Beware, every man of his friend!
Trust not even a brother!
For every brother takes advantage,
Every friend is base in his dealings.

⁴One man cheats the other,
They will not speak truth;
They have trained their tongues to speak falsely;
They wear themselves out working iniquity.

⁵You dwell in the midst of deceit.
In their deceit, they refuse to heed Me
—declares the Lord.

⁶Assuredly, thus said the Lord of Hosts:
Lo, I shall smelt and assay them—
For what else can I do because of My poor people?

⁷Their tongue is a sharpened arrow,
They use their mouths to deceive.
One speaks to his fellow in friendship,
But lays an ambush for him in his heart.

⁸Shall I not punish them for such deeds?
—says the Lord—
Shall I not bring retribution
On such a nation as this?

⁹For the mountains I take up weeping and wailing,
For the pastures in the wilderness, a dirge.
They are laid waste; no man passes through,
And no sound of cattle is heard.
Birds of the sky and beasts as well
Have fled and are gone.

¹⁰I will turn Jerusalem into rubble,
Into dens for jackals;
And I will make the towns of Judah
A desolation without inhabitants.

¹¹What man is so wise
That he understands this?
To whom has the Lord’s mouth spoken,
So that he can explain it:
Why is the land in ruins,
Laid waste like a wilderness,
With none passing through?

¹²The Lord replied: Because they forsook the Teaching I had set before them. They did not obey Me and they did not follow it, ¹³but followed their own willful heart and followed the Baalim, as their fathers had taught them. ¹⁴Assuredly, thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to feed that people wormwood and make them drink a bitter draft. ¹⁵I will scatter them among nations which they and their fathers never knew; and I will dispatch the sword after them until I have consumed them.

¹⁶Thus said the Lord of Hosts:
Listen!
Summon the dirge-singers, let them come;

¹⁷Send for the skilled women, let them come.
Let them quickly start a wailing for us,
That our eyes may run with tears,
Our pupils flow with water.

¹⁸For the sound of wailing
Is heard from Zion:
How we are despoiled!
How greatly we are shamed!
Ah, we must leave our land,
Abandon our dwellings!

¹⁹Hear, O women, the word of the Lord,
Let your ears receive the word of His mouth,
And teach your daughters wailing,
And one another lamentation.

²⁰For death has climbed through our windows,
Has entered our fortresses,
To cut off babes from the streets,
Young men from the squares.

²¹Speak thus—says the Lord:
The carcasses of men shall lie
Like dung upon the fields,
Like sheaves behind the reaper,
With none to pick them up.

²²Thus said the Lord:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom;
Let not the strong man glory in his strength;
Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

²³But only in this should one glory:
In his earnest devotion to Me.
For I the Lord act with kindness,
Justice, and equity in the world;
For in these I delight
—declares the Lord.

Afternoon: Isaiah 55:6-56:8

Chapter 55

⁶Seek the Lord while He can be found,
Call to Him while He is near.

⁷Let the wicked give up his ways,
The sinful man his plans;
Let him turn back to the Lord,
And He will pardon him;
To our God,
For he freely forgives.

⁸For My plans are not your plans,
Nor are My ways your ways
—declares the Lord.

⁹But as the heavens are high above the earth,
So are My ways high above your ways
And My plans above your plans.

¹⁰For as the rain or snow drops from heaven
And returns not there,
But soaks the earth
And makes it bring forth vegetation,
Yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating,

¹¹So is the word that issues from My mouth:
It does not come back to Me unfulfilled,
But performs what I purpose,
Achieves what I sent it to do.

¹²Yea, you shall leave in joy and be led home secure.
Before you, mount and hill shall shout aloud,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

¹³Instead of the brier, a cypress shall rise;
Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise.
These shall stand as a testimony to the Lord,
As an everlasting sign that shall not perish.

Chapter 56

¹Thus said the Lord:
Observe what is right and do what is just;
For soon My salvation shall come,
And my deliverance be revealed.

²Happy is the man who does this,
The man who holds fast to it:
Who keeps the sabbath and does not profane it,
And stays his hand from doing any evil.

³Let not the foreigner say,
Who has attached himself to the Lord,
“The Lord will keep me apart from His people”;
And let not the eunuch say,
“I am a withered tree.”

⁴For thus said the Lord:
“As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,
Who have chosen what I desire
And hold fast to My covenant—

⁵I will give them, in My House
And within My walls,
A monument and a name
Better than sons or daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name
Which shall not perish.

⁶As for the foreigners
Who attach themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him,
And to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants—
All who keep the sabbath and do not profane it,
And who hold fast to My covenant—

⁷I will bring them to My sacred mount
And let them rejoice in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
Shall be welcome on My altar;
For My House shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.”

⁸Thus declares the Lord God,
Who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
“I will gather still more to those already gathered.”

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Day 7

II Samuel 22:1-51

Chapter 22

¹ David addressed the words of this song to the Lord, after the Lord had saved him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hands of Saul. ² He said:

O Lord, my crag, my fastness, my deliverer!
³ O God, the rock wherein I take shelter:
My shield, my mighty champion, my fortress and refuge!
My savior, You who rescue me from violence!

⁴ All praise! I called on the Lord,
And I was delivered from my enemies.

⁵ For the breakers of Death encompassed me,
The torrents of Belial terrified me;
⁶ The snares of Sheol encircled me,
The toils of Death engulfed me.

⁷ In my anguish I called on the Lord,
Cried out to my God;
In His Abode He heard my voice,
My cry entered His ears.

⁸ Then the earth rocked and quaked,
The foundations of heaven shook — 
Rocked by His indignation.
⁹ Smoke went up from His nostrils,
From His mouth came devouring fire;
Live coals blazed forth from Him.
¹⁰ He bent the sky and came down,
Thick cloud beneath His feet.
¹¹ He mounted a cherub and flew;
He was seen on the wings of the wind.
¹² He made pavilions of darkness about Him,
Dripping clouds, huge thunderheads;
¹³ In the brilliance before Him
Blazed fiery coals.
¹⁴ The Lord thundered forth from heaven,
The Most High sent forth His voice;
¹⁵ He let loose bolts, and scattered them;
Lightning, and put them to rout.
¹⁶ The bed of the sea was exposed,
The foundations of the world were laid bare
By the mighty roaring of the Lord,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
¹⁷ He reached down from on high, He took me,
Drew me out of the mighty waters;
¹⁸ He rescued me from my enemy so strong,
From foes too mighty for me.
¹⁹ They attacked me on my day of calamity,
But the Lord was my stay.
²⁰ He brought me out to freedom,
He rescued me because He was pleased with me.
²¹ The Lord rewarded me according to my merit,
He requited the cleanness of my hands.

²² For I have kept the ways of the Lord
And have not been guilty before my God;
²³ I am mindful of all His rules
And have not departed from His laws.
²⁴ I have been blameless before Him,
And have guarded myself against sinning — 
²⁵ And the Lord has requited my merit,
According to my purity in His sight.

²⁶ With the loyal You deal loyally;
With the blameless hero, blamelessly.
²⁷ With the pure You act in purity,
And with the perverse You are wily.
²⁸ To humble folk You give victory,
And You look with scorn on the haughty.

²⁹ You, O Lord, are my lamp;
The Lord lights up my darkness.
³⁰ With You, I can rush a barrier,
With my God, I can scale a wall.
³¹ The way of God is perfect,
The word of the Lord is pure.
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
³² Yea, who is a god except the Lord,
Who is a rock except God — 
³³ The God, my mighty stronghold,
Who kept my path secure;
³⁴ Who made my legs like a deer’s,
And set me firm on the heights;
³⁵ Who trained my hands for battle,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze!
³⁶ You have granted me the shield of Your protection
And Your providence has made me great.
³⁷ You have let me stride on freely,
And my feet have not slipped.
³⁸ I pursued my enemies and wiped them out,
I did not turn back till I destroyed them.
³⁹ I destroyed them, I struck them down;
They rose no more, they lay at my feet.
⁴⁰ You have girt me with strength for battle,
Brought low my foes before me,
⁴¹ Made my enemies turn tail before me,
My foes — and I wiped them out.
⁴² They looked, but there was none to deliver;
To the Lord, but He answered them not.
⁴³ I pounded them like dust of the earth,
Stamped, crushed them like dirt of the streets.
⁴⁴ You have rescued me from the strife of peoples,
Kept me to be a ruler of nations;
Peoples I knew not must serve me.
⁴⁵ Aliens have cringed before me,
Paid me homage at the mere report of me.
⁴⁶ Aliens have lost courage
And come trembling out of their fastnesses.

⁴⁷ The Lord lives! Blessed is my rock!
Exalted be God, the rock
Who gives me victory;
⁴⁸ The God who has vindicated me
And made peoples subject to me,
⁴⁹ Rescued me from my enemies,
Raised me clear of my foes,
Saved me from lawless men!
⁵⁰ For this I sing Your praise among the nations
And hymn Your name:
⁵¹ Tower of victory to His king,
Who deals graciously with His anointed,
With David and his offspring evermore.

Day 8

Isaiah 10:32 – 12:6

Chapter 10
³² This same day at Nob
He shall stand and wave his hand.

O Mount of Fair Zion!
O hill of Jerusalem!
³³ Lo! The Sovereign Lord of Hosts
Will hew off the tree-crowns with an ax:
The tall ones shall be felled, 
The lofty ones cut down:
³⁴ The thickets of the forest shall be hacked away with iron, 
And the Lebanon trees shall fall in their majesty.

Chapter 11
¹ But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, 
A twig shall sprout from his stock.
² The spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him:
A spirit of wisdom and insight, 
A spirit of counsel and valor, 
A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.
³ He shall sense the truth by his reverence for the Lord:
He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, 
Nor decide by what his ears perceive. 
⁴ Thus he shall judge the poor with equity 
And decide with justice for the lowly of the land.
He shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth
And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.
⁵ Justice shall be the girdle of his loins, 
And faithfulness the girdle of his waist. 
⁶ The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, 
The leopard lie down with the kid; 
The calf, the beast of prey, and the fatling together, 
With a little boy to herd them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze, 
Their young shall lie down together; 
And the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw.
⁸ A babe shall play
Over a viper’s hole,
And an infant pass his hand
Over an adder’s den.
⁹ In all of My sacred mount
Nothing evil shall be done;
For the land shall be filled with devotion to the Lord
As water covers the sea.

¹⁰ In that day, 
The stock of Jesse that has remained standing
Shall become a standard to peoples — 
Nations shall seek his counsel 
And his abode shall be honored.

¹¹ In that day, My Lord will apply His hand again to redeeming the other part of His people from Assyria — as also from Egypt, Pathros, Nubia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands.

¹² He will hold up a signal to the nations
And assemble the banished of Israel,
And gather the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.

¹³ Then Ephraim’s envy shall cease
And Judah’s harassment shall end:
Ephraim shall not envy Judah, 
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴ They shall pounce on the back of Philistia to the west,
And together plunder the peoples of the east;
Edom and Moab shall be subject to them
And the children of Ammon shall obey them.

¹⁵ The Lord will dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea. — He will raise His hand over the Euphrates with the might of His wind and break it into seven wadis, so that it can be trodden dry-shod. 16 Thus there shall be a highway for the other part of His people out of Assyria, such as there was for Israel when it left the land of Egypt.

Chapter 12
¹ In that day, you shall say:
“I give thanks to You, O Lord!
Although You were wroth with me,
Your wrath has turned back and You comfort me,
² Behold the God who gives me triumph!
I am confident, unafraid;
For Yah the Lord is my strength and might,
And He has been my deliverance.”

³ Joyfully shall you draw water
From the fountains of triumph,
⁴ And you shall say on that day:
“Praise the Lord, proclaim His name.
Make his deeds known among the peoples;
Declare that His name is exalted.
⁵ Hymn the Lord, 
For He has done gloriously;
Let this be made known
In all the world!
⁶ Oh, shout for joy,
You who dwell in Zion!
For great in your midst
Is the Holy One of Israel.”

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Day 1

Zechariah 14:1-21

Chapter 14

¹ Lo, a day of the Lord is coming when your spoil shall be divided in your very midst! ² For I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem for war: The city shall be captured, the houses plundered, and the women violated; and a part of the city shall go into exile. But the rest of the population shall not be uprooted from the city.

³ Then the Lord will come forth and make war on those nations as He is wont to make war on a day of battle. ⁴ On that day, He will set His feet on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall split across from east to west, and one part of the Mount shall shift to the north and the other to the south, a huge gorge. ⁵ And the Valley in the Hills shall be stopped up, for the Valley of the Hills shall reach only to Azal; it shall be stopped up as it was stopped up as a result of the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. — And the Lord my God, with all the holy beings, will come to you. ⁶ In that day, there shall be neither sunlight nor cold moonlight, ⁷ but there shall be a continuous day — only the Lord knows when — of neither day nor night, and there shall be light at eventide.

⁸ In that day, fresh water shall flow from Jerusalem, part of it to the Eastern Sea and part to the Western Sea, throughout the summer and winter.

⁹ And the Lord shall be king over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Lord with one name.

¹⁰ Then the whole country shall become like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. The latter, however, shall perch high up where it is, and shall be inhabited from the Gate of Benjamin to the site of the Old Gate, down to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. ¹¹Never again shall destruction be decreed, and Jerusalem shall dwell secure.

¹² As for those peoples that warred against Jerusalem, the Lord will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths.

¹³ In that day, a great panic from the Lord shall fall upon them, and everyone shall snatch at the hand of another, and everyone shall raise his hand against everyone else’s hand. ¹⁴ Judah shall join the fighting in Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations roundabout — vast quantities of gold, silver, and clothing — shall be gathered in.

¹⁵ The same plague shall strike the horses, the mules, the camels, and the asses; the plague shall affect all the animals in those camps.

¹⁶ All who survive of all those nations that came up against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage year by year to bow low to the King Lord of Hosts and to observe the Feast of Booths. ¹⁷ Any of the earth’s communities that does not make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to bow low to the King Lord of Hosts shall receive no rain. ¹⁸ However, if the community of Egypt does not make this pilgrimage, it shall not be visited by the same affliction with which the Lord will strike the other nations that do not come up to observe the Feast of Booths. ¹⁹ Such shall be the punishment of Egypt and of all other nations that do not come up to observe the Feast of Booths.

²⁰ In that day, even the bells on the horses shall be inscribed “Holy to the Lord.” The metal pots in the House of the Lord shall be like the basins before the altar; ²¹ indeed, every metal pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the Lord of Hosts. And all those who sacrifice shall come and take of these to boil [their sacrificial meat] in; in that day there shall be no more traders in the House of the Lord of Hosts.

Day 2

I Kings 8:2-21

² All the men of Israel gathered before King Solomon at the Feast, in the month of Ethanim — that is, the seventh month. ³ When all the elders of Israel had come, the priests lifted the Ark ⁴ and carried up the Ark of the Lord. Then the priests and the Levites brought the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. ⁵ Meanwhile, King Solomon and the whole community of Israel, who were assembled with him before the Ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen in such abundance that they could not be numbered or counted.

⁶ The priests brought the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant to its place underneath the wings of the cherubim, in the Shrine of the House, in the Holy of Holies; ⁷ for the cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the Ark, so that the cherubim shielded the Ark and its poles from above. ⁸ The poles projected so that the ends of the poles were visible in the sanctuary in front of the Shrine, but they could not be seen outside; and there they remain to this day. ⁹ There was nothing inside the Ark but the two tablets of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when the Lord made [a covenant] with the Israelites after their departure from the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests came out of the sanctuary — for the cloud had filled the House of the Lord ¹¹ and the priests were not able to remain and perform the service because of the cloud, for the Presence of the Lord filled the House of the Lord — ¹² then Solomon declared:

“The Lord has chosen
To abide in a thick cloud:
¹³ I have now built for You
A stately House,
A place where You
May dwell forever.”

¹⁴ Then, with the whole congregation of Israel standing, the king faced about and blessed the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁵ He said: “Praised be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with deeds the promise He made to my father David. For He said, ¹⁶ ‘Ever since I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city among all the tribes of Israel for building a House where My name might abide; but I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.’

¹⁷ “Now my father David had intended to build a House for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘As regards your intention to build a House for My name, you did right to have that intention. ¹⁹ However, you shall not build the House yourself; instead, your son, the issue of your loins, shall build the House for My name.’

²⁰ “And the Lord has fulfilled the promise that He made: I have succeeded my father David and have ascended the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built the House for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel; ²¹ and I have set a place there for the Ark, containing the covenant which the Lord made with our fathers when He brought them out from the land of Egypt.”

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Day 1

I Samuel 1:1 – 2:10 

Chapter 1
¹ There was a man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites, in the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. ³This man used to go up from his town every year to worship and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh. — Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord there.

⁴ One such day, Elkanah offered a sacrifice. He used to give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give one portion only — though Hannah was his favorite — for the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶ Moreover, her rival, to make her miserable, would taunt her that the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷ This happened year after year: Every time she went up to the House of the Lord, the other would taunt her, so that she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why are you crying and why aren’t you eating? Why are you so sad? Am I not more devoted to you than ten sons?”

⁹ After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose. — The priest Eli was sitting on the seat near the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. — ¹⁰ In her wretchedness, she prayed to the Lord, weeping all the while. ¹¹ And she made this vow: “O Lord of Hosts, if You will look upon the suffering of Your maidservant and will remember me and not forget Your maidservant, and if You will grant Your maidservant a male child, I will dedicate him to the Lord for all the days of his life; and no razor shall ever touch his head.”

¹² As she kept on praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. ¹³ Now Hannah was praying in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Sober up!” 15 And Hannah replied, “Oh no, my lord! I am a very unhappy woman. I have drunk no wine or other strong drink, but I have been pouring out my heart to the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not take your maidservant for a worthless woman; I have only been speaking all this time out of my great anguish and distress.” ¹⁷ “Then go in peace,” said Eli, “and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ She answered, “You are most kind to your handmaid.” So the woman left, and she ate, and was no longer downcast. ¹⁹ Early next morning they bowed low before the Lord, and they went back home to Ramah.

Elkanah knew his wife Hannah and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ Hannah conceived, and at the turn of the year bore a son. She named him Samuel, meaning, “I asked the Lord for him.” ²¹ And when the man Elkanah and all his household were going up to offer to the Lord the annual sacrifice and his votive sacrifice, ²² Hannah did not go up. She said to her husband, “When the child is weaned, I will bring him. For when he has appeared before the Lord, he must remain there for good.” ²³ Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do as you think best. Stay home until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill His word.” So the woman stayed home and nursed her son until she weaned him.

24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a jar of wine. And though the boy was still very young, she brought him to the House of the Lord at Shiloh. ²⁵ After slaughtering the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ She said, “Please, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you and prayed to the Lord. ²⁷ It was this boy I prayed for; and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. ²⁸I, in turn, hereby lend him to the Lord. For as long as he lives he is lent to the Lord.” And they bowed low there before the Lord.

Chapter 2
¹ And Hannah prayed:

My heart exults in the Lord;
I have triumphed through the Lord.
I gloat over my enemies;
I rejoice in Your deliverance.

² There is no holy one like the Lord,
Truly, there is none beside You;
There is no rock like our God.

³ Talk no more with lofty pride,
Let no arrogance cross your lips!
For the Lord is an all-knowing God;
By Him actions are measured.

⁴ The bows of the mighty are broken,
And the faltering are girded with strength.
⁵ Men once sated must hire out for bread;
Men once hungry hunger no more.
While the barren woman bears seven,
The mother of many is forlorn.
⁶ The Lord deals death and gives life,
Casts down into Sheol and raises up.
⁷ The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He casts down, He also lifts high.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust,
Lifts up the needy from the dunghill,
Setting them with nobles,
Granting them seats of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s;
He has set the world upon them.
⁹ He guards the steps of His faithful,
But the wicked perish in darkness —
For not by strength shall man prevail.

¹⁰ The foes of the Lord shall be shattered;
He will thunder against them in the heavens.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give power to His king,
And triumph to His anointed one.

Day 2

² Thus said the Lord:
The people escaped from the sword,
Found favor in the wilderness;
When Israel was marching homeward
³ The Lord revealed Himself to me of old.
Eternal love I conceived for you then;
Therefore I continue My grace to you.
⁴ I will build you firmly again,
O Maiden Israel!
Again you shall take up your timbrels
And go forth to the rhythm of the dancers.
⁵ Again you shall plant vineyards
On the hills of Samaria;
Men shall plant and live to enjoy them.
⁶ For the day is coming when watchmen
Shall proclaim on the heights of Ephraim:
Come, let us go up to Zion,
To the Lord our God!

⁷ For thus said the Lord:
Cry out in joy for Jacob,
Shout at the crossroads of the nations!
Sing aloud in praise, and say:
Save, O Lord, Your people,
The remnant of Israel.
⁸ I will bring them in from the northland,
Gather them from the ends of the earth–
The blind and the lame among them,
Those with child and those in labor–
In a vast throng they shall return here.
⁹ They shall come with weeping,
And with compassion will I guide them.
I will lead them to streams of water,
By a level road where they will not stumble.
For I am ever a Father to Israel,
Ephraim is My first-born.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And tell it in the isles afar.
Say:
He who scattered Israel will gather them,
And will guard them as a shepherd his flock.
¹¹ For the Lord will ransom Jacob,
Redeem him from one too strong for him.
¹² They shall come and shout on the heights of Zion,
Radiant over the bounty of the Lord–
Over new grain and wine and oil,
And over sheep and cattle.
They shall fare like a watered garden,
They shall never languish again.
¹³ Then shall maidens dance gaily,
Young men and old alike.
I will turn their mourning to joy,
I will comfort them and cheer them in their grief.
¹⁴ I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
And My people shall enjoy My full bounty

— declares the Lord:

¹⁵ Thus said the Lord:
A cry is heard in Ramah–
Wailing, bitter weeping–
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
For her children, who are gone.
¹⁶ Thus said the Lord:
Restrain your voice from weeping,
Your eyes from shedding tears;
For there is a reward for your labor

— declares the Lord:

They shall return from the enemy’s land.
¹⁷ And there is hope for your future

— declares the Lord:

Your children shall return to their country.

¹⁸ I can hear Ephraim lamenting:
You have chastised me, and I am chastised
Like a calf that has not been broken.
Receive me back, let me return,
For You, O Lord, are my God.
¹⁹ Now that I have turned back, I am filled with remorse;
Now that I am made aware, I strike my thigh.
I am ashamed and humiliated,
For I bear the disgrace of my youth.
²⁰ Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me,
A child that is dandled!
Whenever I have turned against him,
My thoughts would dwell on him still.
That is why My heart yearns for him;
I will receive him back in love

— declares the Lord —

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.

Ezekiel 43:10-27

¹⁰ [Now] you, O mortal, describe the Temple to the House of Israel, and let them measure its design. But let them be ashamed of their iniquities: ¹¹ When they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the plan of the Temple and its layout, its exits and entrances — its entire plan, and all the laws and instructions pertaining to its entire plan. Write it down before their eyes, that they may faithfully follow its entire plan and all its laws. ¹² Such are the instructions for the Temple on top of the mountain: the entire area of its enclosure shall be most holy. Thus far the instructions for the Temple.

¹³ And these are the dimensions of the altar, in cubits where each is a cubit and a handbreadth. The trench shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim one span high around its edge. And the height shall be as follows: ¹⁴ From the trench in the ground to the lower ledge, which shall be a cubit wide: 2 cubits; from the lower ledge to the upper ledge, which shall likewise be a cubit wide: 4 cubits; ¹⁵ and the height of the altar hearth shall be 4 cubits, with 4 horns projecting upward from the hearth: 4 cubits. ¹⁶ Now the hearth shall be 12 cubits long and 12 broad, square, with 4 equal sides. ¹⁷ Hence, the [upper] base shall be 14 cubits broad, with 4 equal sides. The surrounding rim shall be half a cubit [high], and the surrounding trench shall measure one cubit. And the ramp shall face east.

¹⁸ Then he said to me: O mortal, thus said the Lord God: These are the directions for the altar on the day it is erected, so that burnt offerings may be offered up on it and blood dashed against it. ¹⁹ You shall give to the levitical priests who are of the stock of Zadok, and so eligible to minister to Me — declares the Lord God — a young bull of the herd for a sin offering. ²⁰ You shall take some of its blood and apply it to the four horns [of the altar], to the four corners of the base, and to the surrounding rim; thus you shall purge it and perform purification upon it. ²¹ Then you shall take the bull of sin offering and burn it in the designated area of the Temple, outside the Sanctuary.

²² On the following day, you shall offer a goat without blemish as a sin offering; and the altar shall be purged [with it] just as it was purged with the bull. ²³ When you have completed the ritual of purging, you shall offer a bull of the herd without blemish and a ram of the flock without blemish. ²⁴ Offer them to the Lord; let the priests throw salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. ²⁵ Every day, for seven days, you shall present a goat of sin offering, as well as a bull of the herd and a ram of the flock; you shall present unblemished ones. ²⁶ Seven days they shall purge the altar and cleanse it; thus shall it be consecrated.

²⁷ And when these days are over, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being on the altar; and I will extend My favor to you — declares the Lord God.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
No part of this text can be reproduced or forwarded without written permission.
Please visit the for more fine books of Jewish literature and tradition.